The present application relates generally to technologies for providing texting on telecommunication devices.
Telecommunication companies that offer mobile phone services in many parts of the world have a maximum number of characters for each text message. The maximum number becomes smaller when the language used in the text message is not Latin-based. For instance, in the Middle East, most mobile phones support English, French, Arabic, Urdu, and Farsi languages. The maximum number of characters in SMS messages for English alone, French alone, or English and French is 160. This limit is reduced to 70 characters when Arabic, Urdu, or Farsi is used alone or in conjunction with English or French. For instance, the limit is reduced from 160 characters to 70 characters if even one Arabic character is added to an English text message. A message longer than the limit is charged as multiple messages by the telecommunication companies, which significantly increases the costs to the customers.
It is therefore desirable to provide methods to allow users to send text messages in different languages with increase information content and lower cost.